National Green Tribunal: The Principal Bench of National Green Tribunal (“NGT”) initiated suo motu proceedings in the light of media report captioned “Sambhal cold storage collapsed incident, death reached at 8, 11 rescued, yet many labourers are buried under the debris”. The three-member Bench of Adarsh Kumar Goel (Chairperson), Sudhir Agarwal (Judicial Member) and A. Senthil Vel (Expert Member), directed the District Magistrate (“DM”), Sambhal, to ensure compensation of Rs. 20 lakhs to the heirs of each deceased and Rs. 2 lakhs to the injured and the State Legal Services Authority was directed to provide legal aid to the injured and kins of deceased.
In the matter at hand, an incident took place at newly constructed cold storage for potatoes which caused death of 14 persons and 4 persons were injured. The Tribunal issued notice to the State Pollution Control Board and DM of Sambhal. The Authorities said that the heirs of the deceased were given Rs. 5 lakhs each as compensation.
The Tribunal placed its reliance on M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (Shriram – Oleum Gas), (1987) 1 SCC 395 and said that one of the inherent condition of consent mechanism under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, is to ensure the safety of the people and in case of any death or injury, the liability to compensate the victims based on the principle of ‘absolute liability’ comes into play.
The Tribunal said that if the business entities involved in hazardous activity fail to pay compensation, the State is liable to pay for the failure to ensure safety mechanism with the liberty to recover from such entities . Further, it said that the citizens are entitled to safety from hazardous business activities having potential of such deadly incidents. It stated that the deaths and injuries took place on account of business activities of the cold storage, thus, the heirs of the deceased and the injured are entitled to compensation and the State must take precautions to prevent such incidents in future.
Thus, the DM, Sambhal was directed to ensure payment of compensation of Rs. 20 lakhs to the heirs of each deceased and Rs. 2 lakhs to the injured within two months.
[In Re: News item published in Nav Bharat Times dated 17.03.2023 titled (Sambhal cold storage collapsed incident, death reached at 8, 11 rescued, yet many labourers buried under the debris), 2023 SCC OnLine NGT 136, decided on 06-04-2023]